Sick gold dust mini Molly.

[S.B.]

I have a Gold Dust Mini Molly that has been acting strangely, swimming slowly and awkwardly, and it's scales have recently gone dull, and sits at the bottom of the tank most of the day. In fact, he's sitting at the bottom of the tank right now.
I have five goldfish, one Pleco, and two other mollies in my ten-gallon tank. I have had my tank set up with my fish in it for almost two months now. I have a Tetra Whisper medium sized filter (I do not know what it's GPH is) and a heater,
I replace the water and clean the pebbles at the bottom about every three weeks, and clean the decorations inside and replace the filter cartridge every three weeks as well.
I feed my fish tropical fish food, the amount I need to every day. My sick Molly sometimes comes up to eat, but hardly eats anything.
None of my other fish seem to be sick yet, but they might get sick if I don't do something about my sick Molly. Can someone help me figure out what to do? These are my very first fish I've had in this new tank, and it would be horrible if any of these fish die. I've grown attached to them.

 

[Delapool]

I have a Gold Dust Mini Molly that has been acting strangely, swimming slowly and awkwardly, and it's scales have recently gone dull, and sits at the bottom of the tank most of the day. In fact, he's sitting at the bottom of the tank right now.

I have five goldfish, one Pleco, and two other mollies in my ten-gallon tank. I have had my tank set up with my fish in it for almost two months now. I have a Tetra Whisper medium sized filter (I do not know what it's GPH is) and a heater,

I replace the water and clean the pebbles at the bottom about every three weeks, and clean the decorations inside and replace the filter cartridge every three weeks as well.

I feed my fish tropical fish food, the amount I need to every day. My sick Molly sometimes comes up to eat, but hardly eats anything.

None of my other fish seem to be sick yet, but they might get sick if I don't do something about my sick Molly. Can someone help me figure out what to do? These are my very first fish I've had in this new tank, and it would be horrible if any of these fish die. I've grown attached to them.

Congrats on your new fish

Ok, so assuming ten gallons is correct? (bear with me), the tank is well and truly overstocked unfortunately. Try the link below.

http://www.aqadvisor.com

I'd also suggest picking up a water test kit as essential.

http://www.apifishcare.com/product.php?id=580#.VsQ_OF_CanN

For ten gallons, return of the goldfish and the pleco is high priority. You have a heater so small tropical fish (not goldfish of any type) will be possible.

Some other thoughts would be:

Water changes should be roughly temp matched to tank water.

Water changes should be weekly of say 30 to 40%.

Filter media cartridges should be replaced on a rotating basis as you are removing the nitrifying bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. Or simply swish cartridges in old tank water taken out in a water change.

Try to clean a little each week rather than one big clean every month. Changes to a tank can cause stress to the fish so a small change is better than a large change.

I would thus suspect the issues with the molly are water quality related. Second option would be bacterial infection or just hasn't adjusted from the fish shop.

Hope this helps.

 

[Fresh2o]

Upon reading your other threads, the pleco (as in plecostamus, not Plecoptera which is an order of insects that include stoneflies) in this tank is actually an otocinclus. These do best in groups in an established tank.
This does not change the fact that tank is overstocked as mentioned in the previous post.


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[S.B.]

Upon reading your other threads, the pleco (as in plecostamus, not Plecoptera which is an order of insects that include stoneflies) in this tank is actually an otocinclus. These do best in groups in an established tank.
This does not change the fact that tank is overstocked as mentioned in the previous post.


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I didn't try to say Plecoptera (stupid auto-correct. thanks for fixing that mistake), and it's nice to know what kind of fish it is exactly. Thanks for telling me about the fact that they thrive better in groups. Luckily I can get a new tank soon, upgrade from my 10g because I've heard that larger tanks don't get dirty as fast, and are easier to manage. (Is this true?) And since the tank is crowded, I'll move my fish around to best suit them.
My Molly was the color it is now when we first brought the fish home, but it's been acting strange only recently. I've had it quarantined for the past few days, trying to care for it seperately.
I've started doing water changes of 40% or 50% more often now, and I'm sure it's helping.
Thanks for the other advice you have given me, I'll try to improve my tank as much as I can. It's nice to get advice from more experienced fish tank owners.


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[Matt68005]

Ive had mollies and goldfish get along.
Does it have stringy poo?

 

[Delapool]

My thoughts would be a big tank is more forgiving and more stable. My 5gal QT has greater temperature swings than the 150gal. A larger tank also has more places to hide muck though but you can use larger filters like canister filters. Depends on stocking I would guess as well.

The stocking you have now I would look at for the 150gal if I ever went back to goldfish. On this I run two external canister filters that are about 7 gallons combined so I can alternate filter cleans.

 

[S.B.]

Ive had mollies and goldfish get along.
Does it have stringy poo?

Yes, it does.

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[S.B.]

Don't goldfish grow to fit the size of their habitat? Could my goldfish possibly grow smaller than they would in a bigger tank? (Well, I'm sure I'm getting a bigger tank sometime soon, so that could solve some problems with the size some of my fish will become, and the problem I have of having an overstocked tank.)

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[S.B.]

A problem I have is that the closest store with fish tank supplies available is about an hour and a half to two hours away from where I live. That makes it difficult to go buy new stuff for my fish. The next time I go to buy stuff for my fish, I'll need to know exactly what I will need for my fish.

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[superpeytonm]

Don't goldfish grow to fit the size of their habitat? Could my goldfish possibly grow smaller than they would in a bigger tank? (Well, I'm sure I'm getting a bigger tank sometime soon, so that could solve some problems with the size some of my fish will become, and the problem I have of having an overstocked tank.)

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This is a common myth. Fish do not grow to the size of their habitat. Fish stuck in cramped conditions become what is known as stunted.
This can cause skeletal deformities.
It's very painful and cannot be reversed.
It could even kill.

 

[Matt68005]

Yes, it does.

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Usually a sign of camallanus worms on guppies or mollies.
Tho it could be something else, like bacteria, i would euthanize it and make sure the other fish are still passing normal feces.